Emirates Lit Fest // Winners of First Chapter 2026 Announced

This winners of First Chapter 2026, the ELF Seddiqi Writers’ Fellowship, were announced today at the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. 

The fellowship pairs debut writers with internationally published authors and is open to writers working on their first novel in either Arabic or English. Ten winners were selected from 120 applicants, with the announcements made by five of the programme’s mentors who are participating in this year’s Emirates LitFest.

The authors mentoring the 2026 cohort are Ali Sparkes, Alwyn Hamilton, Annabel Kantaria, Greg Mosse, Iman Humaydan, Jalal Barjas, Leila Aboulela, Renée Ahdieh, Shahla al Ujaily and SonaCharaipotra 

The winners are:

Ahmad Al Suh chosen by Jalal Barjas 

Katherine Rich chosen by Ali Sparks 

Hashem Al Sayed Ahmad chosen by Dr Shahla Al Ujaily

Jennah Fakhouri chosen by Sona Charaipotra

Kamand Koujouri chosen by Greg Mosse

Mehr Shafiei chosen by Renée Ahdieh

Nadine Bakhos chosen by Iman Humaydin

Raed Bou Ajram chosen Annabel Kantaria

Shahd Thani chosen by Leila Aboulela

Zainab Ahmed chosen by Alwyn Hamilton

As the only global-standard mentorship programme in the region for aspiring writers of fiction, acceptance on the programme could be the first step towards winning an international publishing deal.

The programme has been made possible thanks to the support of Seddiqi Holding, who originally agreed to sponsor the programme for five years. To date, four alumni have now secured publishing deals, with more in the pipeline. 

The graduates of the programme who have won publishing deals include Sara Hamdan, who won a major two-book deal with US publisher Holt. Her novel, What Will People Think was published in May 2025. Saba Brelvi, from year two, will have her novel, The Squatters published by The Dial Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House, this year. Ali Al Shaali and Alaa Maasarani have both had their books published in Arabic.

In addition to six hours of one-to-one mentorship from their mentor, the fellows take part in a regular series of workshops led by resident mentor Annabel Kantaria, along with meetups and talks from authors and experts spanning the whole of the industry and encompassing all stages of writing, publishing and promoting a book. The programme also provides introductions to international agents, editors and publishers and access to short writing classes from international partner writing institutions. Each year the group undertakes a field trip, with previous groups visiting the Gotham Writers Centre in New York and the Faber Academy and Curtis Brown Creative in London to take classes and meet literary agents.

More information about the Emirates Literature Foundation can be found online.